Even though the Phantom Thieves made it up to the Member's Floor of the casino, this was only the beginning of their infiltration. Now the real challenge began. They had to gamble their way to the top if they wanted to face Shadow Sae and find the Treasure. "Let's review the situation…" Panther said while scratching her head. "What do we need to do exactly?"

"We must play the casino and win." Crow said. "It seems that the members are divided into ranks. If we wish to access a higher floor, we will need to increase our rank."

"So basically, we gotta earn the right to go up." Oracle summarized. "And as I mentioned earlier, a different kinda member's card is used depending on your rank. We'll have to obtain a card for the high limit floor somewhere around here."

"For real!? Ugh, what a pain!" Skull groaned.

"I know where we have to begin." Queen turned, staring at the cognitive version of herself that was waiting for them at the counter. So they approached Cognitive Makoto tentatively. They weren't sure what she was planning to do…

"Took you long enough." Cognitive Makoto said before clearing her throat. Even though she wanted to take down the Phantom Thieves, she did have a role to play. So she would adhere to her sister's wishes to the best of her ability. "Welcome to the members floor. We've been expecting you."

"I cannot help but suspect we are being manipulated…" Fox mumbled.

"Since my sister wants you to play by her rules, I will help you start off." Cognitive Makoto said, loading 1,000 chips onto Joker's card.

"You're just…giving them to us?" Panther blinked.

"Perhaps this is a show of confidence. It seems she truly has no intention of losing." Crow said.

"Well, neither do we!" Dragon said confidently. "She will learn the bitter taste of defeat by our hands."

"You really are quite a different person in this world, aren't you…?" Crow glanced at Dragon with a sweat drop. Considering her usual personality in reality, Crow never would have expected her to be so…battle hungry in the Metaverse.

"You get used to it." Noir said with a slight smile.

"I'm still not used to it." Joker replied while glancing at his card.

"Ahem." Cognitive Makoto cut the conversation short. She wasn't here to listen to their idle chatter. "Now, on the left we have the dice game area. To the right, the slots. Pick whichever one you want, but I will say the dice game is more suited for beginners like yourself…though I doubt you'll be able to win."

"Ugh…" Queen couldn't help but sigh at that condescending tone her cognitive self was using. God, was that what she sounded like when she was blackmailing the Phantom Thieves? No wonder they couldn't stand her…!

"One more thing. Here's the map of the floor." Cognitive Makoto shoved it into Joker's arms with such force he almost staggered back.

"…Thanks." Joker said with a furrowed brow.

"So….we should start with the dice game?" Noir suggested.

"It looks like our best bet." Mona said in agreement.

"If you want the card to the high limit floor, it'll cost about 50,000 chips." Cognitive Makoto slipped that in. She nearly forgot.

"50,000!?" Oracle nearly choked.

Crow was also shocked. His surprised expression soon turned into an understanding one. "I see. I believe I figured out Sae-san's intent behind this. She wants us to win the card by playing in the casino."

"But for 50,000 coins!? That's an absurd amount!" Fox yelled. He was right to feel this way. They weren't even given 1% of that.

There was a slight smirk on Cognitive Makoto's lips at their reaction. If they were panicking about it now, there was no way they would be able to win. "If you so wish, we do allow players to borrow coins if need be, the limit being the current total on their card."

"That sounds very unwise." Dragon shook her head. "I don't see any benefit to that at this moment…"

"I don't wanna do that either!" Skull exclaimed, agreeing with Dragon as they always, unintentionally tended to do. "Owin' cash to a weird-ass casino in someone's head is way too weird!"

"Oh well…standing here talking about it isn't going to help. Let's go to the dice game." Mona said.

"Hold on a moment, I would like to discuss something with you for a second." Crow said, leading the others away from Cognitive Makoto's prying ears. Clearly she was looking for a chance to jump them. "Dice games, slot machines…it would not surprise me if the games were rigged in some way."

"You think she's cheatin'!?" Skull said in a loud whisper.

"Remember, this is a courthouse in the real world. Sae-san is quite particular about 'winning' here." Crow said. "To compound that, defendants in Japan are prosecuted at a 99.9% success rate – defendants are nearly always found guilty.

Hearing that made Dragon wince. "…I think Crow is correct. We should go into this expecting the results to be weighed against us in an impossible fashion. If she is willing to resort to falsifying evidence, then…" She glanced at Queen, silently asking if she was okay with her continuing.

"You don't need to worry about me." Queen said with a slight smile. "We're here to save her."

"But…are rates like those even possible? There's no way those verdicts can be accurate…!" Panther objected.

"And you would be right. Investigators are only human, after all." Crow sighed. "You wouldn't be the first to point out the rigged nature of the system. The prosecution is nigh-unbeatable. That's why cases of false accusation cause such a stir; they are exceedingly rare."

"But it's total bullshit getting' arrested even when you're not guilty!" Skull yelled, but Dragon quickly jabbed him in the side with her elbow. "Ack…"

"Silence, remember? There are eyes on us." Dragon warned.

"Indeed – and if we don't hurry, the Phantom Thieves will suffer the same fate." Crow said.

"That won't happen." Queen said firmly. "We're going to win this – no matter what."

Oracle still had communication with Violet up. She didn't say anything, but she kept the channel open so Violet could be kept in the loop and understand the situation around them. "Okay, let's go gamble!"

Cognitive Makoto furrowed her brows, watching as the group made their way to the dice area. "I thought they were going to mention that masked girl, but maybe she isn't with them after all. Oh well, that doesn't matter." Once the Phantom Thieves entered the Dice Area, Cognitive Makoto snapped her fingers, summoning a few security guards. "Make sure they don't try anything funny…you have my permission to take them down if you must. My sister wants them defeated after all…and they haven't earned the right to stand on the same level as her."

"Yes, ma'am!" The two security guards nodded at their orders.

.

.

Violet was listening in to the situation. Her jaw nearly dropped at hearing the 50,000 chip requirement to obtain the members card to the high limit floor. "That's so much…" Unfortunately she was stuck on the standard floor. The elevator was guarded by two men in black…presumably Cognitive Makoto's doing to ensure the unwelcomed guest. She wouldn't be getting past there anytime soon. "I guess I need to find another way up there…"

.

.

"This is the Dice Game area? Truly repulsive." Fox sucked his teeth, shaking his head in disgust.

"Well, I don't think this is something normal highschoolers like us are meant to see…" Panther said. "So…where should we start?"

"I think we should start by playing a game." Dragon suggested.

"Huh? We just had the huge conversation about how this place is prolly rigged!" Skull said in disbelief.

"While that is true, I do not believe there is any harm in testing the waters." Dragon placed her hands on her hips. "I think it is better to work on solid information rather than strong assumptions. This is not a place we can afford to make guesswork. Plus, it's important to understand how these games work, no?"

"I do think she has a point." Crow nodded in agreement. "We minimize the risk of failure by understanding what it is we are up against."

"I agree. I think we should see how this game works before we make any major decisions." Queen also agreed.

"I have another reason as well, but I would like to confirm my thoughts." Dragon said.

"Alright. Let's see how it turns out." Joker replied. There was no harm in seeing how things would turn out. So they walked into one of the rooms, where a Shadow Dealer was waiting for them.

"Welcome to the Dice Game room!" The Shadow Dealer said. "Please enjoy this simple game in which you guess the total number that will appear on three cast die. You can also guess if the total will be odd or even, high or low! A correct prediction will double your bet, while three matching dice will triple it. More importantly, matching sixes is a supreme victory! Regardless of what your initial bet was, the payout will be quintuple that!"

"That sounds promising!" Noir clasped her hands together.

"Buy-in for this game is only 25 coins. Would you care to play?" The Shadow Dealer said to Joker.

"Alright, I'll play a few rounds." Joker said. They couldn't afford to spend too many of their coins on this. Joker was going to limit two rounds – that should be enough to figure things out. "First…I'll bet high."

At the cost of 25 coins, three dice spawned and rolled on the table and…the total was low. "Oh, unfortunately it was low! Would you care to try again?" The Shadow Dealer asked.

"Yeah. Let's go even this time." Joker said.

25 more coins and the dice rolled again…this time the total was odd. "Oh, how unfortunate. Would you care to try one more time?" The Shadow Dealer asked.

"Are you certain this game is fair?" Dragon asked.

"Of course." The Shadow Dealer would be smiling if they had a mouth.

"Tch…" Dragon could feel that lie throughout every fiber of her being. Her suspicions were confirmed. She turned and exited the room with the others. "Apologies for wasting some coins, but I needed to see if things would turn out that way."

"They're totally cheating in luck based games." Oracle rolled her eyes.

"So what's the next step?" Noir asked.

"Hey, come check this out." Mona gestured to an open air duct. Everyone crawled through the vent and arrived in another back area.

"Another back area?" Noir glanced around. The back areas of the casino were cold and dreary, compared to the lively flashing colors of the various floors.

"There may be something here that controls the games." Dragon suggested. "Now that we can confirm they're cheating.."

"We can catch 'em in the act? Sounds easy enough!" Skull grinned. "Let's do it!"

"Ah, so that's why you wanted to play the game?" It appeared as though Crow understood what Dragon's aim was. "Confirm the game truly is unfair, so we have a reason to turn the tide in our favor."

"That's correct." Dragon said with a nod. "We know where to begin, our next objective is figuring out how to solve our issue."

"Surely the game is being controlled here somehow. We have to find it." Queen surmised.

"What are all these machines?" Noir gestured to the numerous severs around them. "Maybe they control the game?"

"No, I imagine what we're looking for is much more complex that these simple machines." Crow shook his head.

Simple? Oof. Noir wasn't great with technology and it showed. "I…I see. Well, if it needs to be smashed, leave it to me!" To make up for this, she was a little too excited to pull her axe out and swing it a few times.

"You are…very excitable with that axe, aren't you, Noir?" Crow said with a nervous smile.

"Dude, you have no idea." Skull said with a sweat drop. That little show was barely the tip of the iceberg when it came to Noir.

With this said, they began another trek in the back area. It didn't take too long for them to find a Shadow in front of a monitor. They all rounded the corner and hid behind it. "It's just like we thought. The calculations for their rigging are up on the monitor now." Oracle said.

"Let's take it out and quickly." Queen said.

"Leave it to me." Dragon pulled out her sniper rifle, taking aim at the shadow's back while it was distracted. She clicked the trigger a few times, letting loose five bullets in rapid succession. "Oh, I have five…!" This was the first time she fired her gun since her true awakening, so it was nicee to know she was no longer limited to a single shot.

"…!?" The Shadow transformed and quickly dove down upon hearing the sound of gunshots. It then transformed into its true form: The Wandering Reviver. Instinct saved it, as Dragon's shots were frightening close to striking it, and she made sure to avoid the monitors as well, just in case she missed. "You must be the intruders that the manager's sister warned us about."

"Looks like they were expecting us." Crow said calmly.

The Wandering Reaper quickly brought his hands forward, sending numerous straw dolls towards the Phantom Thieves. It was Mamudo, which was a very dangerous spell to deal with. "I'll kill you right here!"

"Guys, that is not an attack you want to try tanking!" Oracle warned, and everyone took her advice and dropped down to the ground.

"Let's whup 'em!" Skull said while summoning Seiten Taisei. The monkey king flew forward on his cloud, swinging his staff around to call forth numerous bolts of lightning to drop down on the area. The Wandering Reviver was able to dodge a few of them, but a lucky shot did acause it to stop in its tracks temporarily.

"Milady!" Noir was up next, Milady coming out and her dress opened up to reveal her heavy artillery hidden beneath. On Noir's command, Milady began to open fire, numerous bullets shooting out to pierce and strike the Wandering Reviver.

"…!?" Crow's eyes went wide under his mask. Even he was completely staggered at the firepower Noir had at her disposal. "Oh, my…"

"Right?" Skull just nodded. He was never going to get used to Milady's means of attacking.

The Wandering Reviver staggered back from the numerous bullets that struck it. It was able to recover, swinging its hands in a circular formation to release a gigantic blast of fire towards the Phantom Thieves. "Burn!"

"Hah! No way, I got this!" Panther grinned and her mask burned off, summoning Hecate to completely tank the attack. Since her second awakening, Panther was able to negate fire based attacks.

The Wandering Reviver was shocked that its attack was negated. This moment of shock allowed Dragon and Fox to attack. "Belle Star, time to strike!" Dragon yelled.

"Come, Kamu-Susano-o!" Fox said in tandem with Dragon. Belle Star from the left, Kamu-Susano-o from the right; the two Personas sandwiched the Wandering Reviver, attacking it with numerous blows from their swords. Kamu-Susano-o landed a powerful hit, which briefly stunned the enemy. With this opening, Fox passed the baton to Mona, making the incoming attack even more powerful.

"Zorro, show your might!" Mona exclaimed while calling forth Zorro. Zorro swung his sword in the air, creating a powerful twister that completely enveloped the Wandering Reaper within the cyclone. This turned out to be a weakness of their enemy, and Mona was able to keep it coming, now passing the baton to Queen, who was driving forward on Anat. "Queen!"

"Take this!" Queen slammed into the Wandering Reviver at full throttle with enough force to knock it into the air. Queen drove past Joker, who she entrusted to finish it with the final attack. "It's all yours!"

"Right!" Joker nodded and leapt into the air, his mask burning away as he called forth a Persona. "Power!" An angel clad in dark red armor appeared, bombarding the Wandering Reviver with numerous beams of light to pin it to the wall. Just as quickly, he called forth Arsene for a finishing dive that completely destroyed it.

"Nice work, everyone!" Oracle said.

Crow sat back and watched the group fight, raising a brow at their tactics and their Personas. "I see…what an intriguing style you have. What was that high five for?"

"That's a baton pass." Mona explained. "It's a technique we use to capitalize on an enemy opening and make our attacks stronger."

"Fascinating. You all have gotten your fighting style down to a t. I'm impressed." Crow said with a nod, before turning to Joker. "And you…you have two Personas?"

"Yeah." Joker said while fixing his glove. "I actually can use about 10 at once…the one you just saw was my original one, Arsene."

"10…!?" Crow nearly choked. "And here I thought everyone only had one…" "How dare you…10…?! Are you trying to show off!?"

"…" Dragon's brows furrowed at that statement.

"I see now how you've been able to get so far." Crow turned to the monitor. "In terms of combat, while I can hold my own and match you all, it's clear that may not be needed. So I will offer my intelligence and tell you that I've devised a way to get all the coins we need."

"All of them in here?" Fox said.

"Is that even possible…?" Panther was all for it. Anything to make this ordeal even less tedious than it needed to be.

"It is now. I've deduced how to win the games." Crow said firmly. "Just as they were using the equipment to rig the game against us, we will use it to put the game in our favor."

"You can do that!?" Skull said.

"Wait, this is an easy job for me!" Oracle said, beginning to make her way to the monitor.

"I feel a little bad about cheating…" Noir rubbed her arm. "But I understand that this is the game we have to play."

"Precisely. We would never win if we stuck to the normal methods." Crow nodded.

"…I still can't believe my sister has a room like this…" Queen mumbled. She knew Sae was focused on winning, consumed by the thought even…but seeing it like this, firsthand? It was giving her an idea on how twisted her sister's mindset really became.

"There! I've finished it. I returned a few of the rooms to normal, but I rigged one of them in our favor." Oracle said with a mischievous smile.

"Excellent. Let us get back into the fray then." Crow said.

.

.

With the game rigged in their favor, the group was able to amass over 6,000 chips. It wasn't close to their goal, but it was a fantastic start to what they needed. "Woo, we won! That was a lot fun!" Panther hummed contently.

"I doubt we've reached our goal, though…" Dragon mumbled.

"Indeed. I do not think it is enough." Crow agreed.

"Are you seriously planning on taking every single last coin in here?" Mona looked at Crow, dumbfounded.

"Ahaha, it was a joke." Crow laughed. "However, it would certainly be nice to have a little more coinage on hand, would it not? Speaking of…everyone, wait here. Skull, I need you to come with me."

"Why me?" Skull asked.

"Because I am the 'brains' here, am I not?" Crow said.

"…You are a brain here." Dragon mumbled. But clearly Crow was simply going for a 'brains and brawn' situation here. So Crow and Skull took off and the others sat down to wait for them.

"Man…I can't get over how fun that was! I could get addicted." Panther mused.

"That was amazing! It was like magic!" Noir said happily.

"That's how they get you." Queen warned. "The rush of victory did feel nice…even though we had to weigh the odds in our favors. But please don't forget what we're here for."

"I prefer victory based on skill as opposed to victory based upon luck…" Gambling was not something Dragon was too fond off. She preferred a hard earned victory as opposed to one that was given, and for good reason.

"Where they did go…" Mona was looking for Crow and Skull. They were gone for a little while.

"Sorry about the wait." Crow said. Everyone turned to the direction of his voice. Crow walked back and Skull was seen wheeling a cart with a large bag of coins on it.

"So…heavy…" Skull weakly groaned. He understood why Crow wanted him to come…he just wanted someone to push the cart along.

"…Something tells me this was completely unnecessary." Dragon shook her head.

"Now then, let us move onto the slots." Crow said.

"You sure make a lot of demands for a noob." Oracle commented. That took the wind out of Crow's sails and he deflated a little bit.

.

.

Violet realized that since she didn't have free reign on the inside of the casino, she would simply have to approach from the outside. Due to being perceived as a threat upon stepping foot into the building, she was able to retain her Phantom Thief attire. So she scaled the outside of the building and found an open window into the second floor, rolling inside quietly. "So this place is unguarded? Good to know…" It looked like a small corridor. She was keeping note of this location for later, and quietly decided to see where it led. She found a door and silently opened it, only to hide behind a corner. Cognitive Makoto was on the other side and she wasn't happy.

"What do you mean they won the dice game…!?" Cognitive Makoto shouted at a Shadow Dealer.

"I don't know how…but it seems they were able to guess correctly." The Dealer spoke. "We know the payout isn't enough for the card to the high limit floor, but…"

"We can't let them get to the high limit floor. If they do, I won't be able to stop them…" Cognitive Makoto bit her thumb. "Even I'm not allowed up there…"

"Huh…?" Violet said to herself. "Not even Makoto-senpai is allowed up on the high limit floor…? Why not…" Questions for later. Violet decided to make herself scarce once again before she was tracked. "Hey, Oracle…I have some more information…"

.

.

The slots were up next. Compared to the dice game area, this area was massive. "Dayum…that's a crazy number of slots…"

"If the dice game is anything to go by, I would say they're all rigged as well." Dragon said.

"My thoughts exactly." Crow nodded. "I suggest we take a deeper look into this area. Casinos often hold their higher-limit slots somewhere in the back. If we're going to circumvent their trick, would it not be more efficient to do so on those?"

"That's assuming we'll be able to in the first place." Queen was only presenting a realistic option. "But we should look and see what we can do before making assumptions."

Skull's eyes wandered to the shadows in this area. Voluptuous bunny girls. "A-Aight…let's get moving then!"

Fox was also looking, but for different reasons. "How intriguing…"

Panther cut her eyes at Skull. "What are you looking at?" She asked but she already had an idea. She wasn't blind to their surroundings…this time.

"N-Nothin'…!" Skull said, straightening up.

"…Uh huh…" Dragon rolled her eyes.

"I ain't lookin'!" Skull said. He was speaking for himself, because Fox was already mumbling about making a picture of this.

"Stay focused, guys…" Joker let out a quiet sigh. He wouldn't be able to talk them out of that situation. They had to wander a bit out of their way to find the back area of the slot area, but when they did, they saw a gigantic slot machine in the back. "Whoa…"

"It's huge…!" Noir's eyes were wide at the size of that slot machine.

"Look at this." Oracle was reading the payout. "If we can get triple sevens it's…50k!?"

"Isn't that everything we need!?" Panther couldn't believe it. It was such an enticing offer. "We gotta play it!"

"While it's true that would cover the cost of the high limit card…" Crow was obviously skeptical about it.

"We gotta stop the cheatin' first, right?" Skull sighed. This was definitely becoming a drag.

"I'm glad you understand." Crow smiled.

"I found the terminal." Dragon was on top of the slot machine. Oracle joined her to examine it. "Oracle, can you do something about the machine from here?"

"Yup, no problem." Oracle nodded. "I just need a few minutes. This one is a little more complex than the dice game. So feel free to take it easy while the boys stare at the bunny shadows." She called them out.

"T-That's not what I'm doin'…!?" Skull choked.

"…" Joker wasn't going to say anything.

"I think they would make for a nice portrait." And Fox was too oblivious to the implication to deny it.

"Is that what boys like…?" Noir whispered to Queen.

"I…I don't know. Maybe…?" Queen shrugged her shoulders. It wasn't something she had a lot of expertise on. So they looked at Crow.

"…I can't say this is particularly in my field of interest." Crow replied, unsure of the answer they were looking for.

"Okay! I'm done." Oracle jumped down. "Problem, though…I couldn't rig this one fully in our favor. There's…a 20% chance we don't get this."

"That's…not great." Dragon pursed her lips. "And playing this slot machine once cost 5,000 coins. That's nearly everything we have, so we only have one shot at it."

Even for Crow, this wasn't ideal. 20% chance of failure wasn't something they could afford to take lightly, especially when they needed things to go their way to proceed. "It's a big risk…what's your call, Joker?"

"Leave it to me." Joker said confidently, approaching the level and pulling it down. Mulling it over wasn't going to do anything. They needed to take action.

So the slot roulette began to move. The first roulette stopped on…7. Panther and Dragon's eyes widened at this first stroke of good luck. "Oh…" They said with hopeful stares.

The second slot also landed on 7. Fox, Skull, and Mona stared intently as things were looking up. "Hmmm…?!"

And finally…..the last roulette landed…on 7! It was a perfect 777! Noir was so excited. "We did it! Perfect 7s!"

"Wow…that was tense…but I feel rather relieved and excited right now?" Queen said. That was the nature of gambling and taking risks…but she did not want to indulge on this feeling any more than she needed to. As soon as the triple sevens were displayed, coins began shooting out of the machine.

"50,000 coins…you truly are special, Joker…" Crow said with a slight smile. "How…what makes you so special!?"

"Um. It's not stopping." Noir said while staring at the endless flow of coins.

"I ain't carryin' all that!" Skull shook his head.

"You won't need to. It should be just for show." Queen said.

"HEN WHY DID I HAVE TO LUG ALL THOSE COINS AROUND EARLIER?!" Skull couldn't help but yell.

"Hey, was that a jackpot?"

"Who won!?"

Ironic how the sounds of someone else striking gold was the one thing that pulled the people away from their own, selfish world. "So that's what catches their attention? I see…we should probably leave swiftly." Crow said. It was a good idea, the last thing they needed was to attract more unwanted attention.

.

.

Cognitive Makoto wasn't at the coin exchange counter when they returned. It was just an employee Shadow. That didn't change anything as Joker placed his card down. "High Limit Card, please."

"Huh? You actually managed to acquire enough coins for it? How impressive." The Shadow nodded. At the cost of 50k coins, the Phantom Thieves received the High Limit Card to the next floor. As soon as they exchanged it, Cognitive Makoto was standing behind them.

"Oh…there she is." Crow said.

"What a clever trick." Shadow Sae's voice came out from the intercom.

"We were simply playing by your rules." Queen replied.

"Hmph! I am the manager of this casino, and the rules deem that I am the victor!" Shadow Sae replied with venom and disgust.

"..." Queen frowned. Clearly, Shadow Sae and the Sae in reality were reaching their limit. "Sis…"

"Makoto. I think our guests will be leaving now." Shadow Sae said.

"Of course. I'll deal with them myself, Sis." Cognitive Makoto cracked her knuckles.

"Wait, I wanna stay-" Panther said.

"Are you serious…" Dragon slumped over.

"Are we really about to fight?" Fox questioned.

"There's no need." Oracle said with a grin. "All we have to do is get to the elevator. She won't be able to follow us to the next floor."

Cognitive Makoto's eyes went wide. "How do you-?!"

"Mwhehehe…because you just told me!" Oracle snickered. She made it seem like a bluff, but in reality, she was making use of the information that Violet told her. It was important that Crow remain unaware.

"Very clever, Oracle…" Crow approved of the bluff.

"I won't let you get past me!" Cognitive Makoto took a fighting stance.

"Sorry, but we don't have time to waste." Joker threw a smoke bomb down. The moment the bomb hit the floor, smoke erupted in all directions.

Cognitive Makoto closed her eyes, coughing while trying to swing at anyone and anything. "No, wait! Come back here! This isn't fair!" She exclaimed, waving her arms around to try and dissipate the smoke. Unfortunately for her, when that smoke cleared, the Phantom Thieves were gone. When she turned to the direction of the elevator, it was already going up. "No….!"

.

.

"I feel a little bad…" Noir glanced at Queen.

"I'm okay, don't worry." Queen responded with a slight smile. The deeper they got into the Palace, the more determined she was to save her sister.

"The Treasure is definitely close." Mona said.

"I can smell it, almost! I'm sure this floor is the last one." Oracle said.

The elevator stopped and opened up. Everyone stepped out and the high limit floor was surrounded by a large gate with a door. A shadow was standing in front of the door too. Skull stepped forward. "Outta the way."

"Beyond this point is the high limit floor." The employee shadow said casually. "Do you have a reservation?"

"I said outta the way!" Skull repeated himself, more aggressive this time.

"We shouldn't cause a scene." Noir ushered Skull to come back. In fact, she and Dragon took his arms and pulled him back before he could do anything they would regret.

"Do. You have. A reservation?" The shadow repeated himself, but his tone was heavier. Clearly he wouldn't result to using force if the situation called for it.

"It appears there's some kind of requirement we must meet before we can advance." Fox based this on the Shadow's words.

"It must be related to my sister's cognition in some way." Queen concluded. "Like with the front gate in Hifumi's Mother's Palace. We can't pass unless she thinks we can."

"But…I can't imagine what it's related to…" Panther was trying to rock her brain for ideas. A difficult decision.

"Her cognition…" Crow was thinking. "Essentially, Sae-san needs to think os us as being allowed to enter, correct? The casino is the courthouse in reality, so that floor must be a place only authorized personnel are given access to…"

"A courtroom?" Dragon stole Crow's thunder at the last second.

"Exactly." Crow nodded. "It is the sole location that the High Limit Floor can be."

"Wow, he's really gotten the hang of this." Ann was impressed. "And Dragon and Queen have been quick to leap on his ideas too!"

"He's come to understand the workings of the cognitive world so quickly." Fox was also impressed. Crow was rather adept at all of this.

Skull looked to Joker. "I-I was just like that too, right?"

"Well…I guess so…?" Joker was being nice.

"I mean, I just understood it all right away. No need for all that logic stuff." Skull said with a cheeky grin.

"Skull, please stop trying…" Panther shook her head. It was painful seeing Skull trying so hard to compete with Crow in terms of brains.

"Please." Mona felt secondhand embarrassment.

"Erm, that aside." Noir spoke up. "How are we going to get into the courtroom? Least of all to where Niijima-san can see us?"

"Ryuji! Go piss off the police!" Oracle shouted.

"HELL NO!" Skull shook his head.

"Er…still. My sister never talks to me about work, especially these days. So I have no idea what trials she'll be attending."

"Leave that to me. I have some connections that come to mind." Crow said. "I will contact you once I manage to arrange a time. We should return to the real world in the meantime."

"Good idea. This is as far as we can go. Good work, everyone." Nodding, Joker turned back to the elevator. There was nothing more they could do in Sae's Palace at the moment. They had to wait until Crow could find a time for them to attend a trial. For now, they would return to reality and plot their next move accordingly.